Have you ever thought about what you said to that McDonald's cashier behind the counter? Have you ever wondered what it's like being talked down to like you're dumb, yet you're still expected to make everything perfect? What about that Burger King employee that you didn't know and yelled, "Hey baby" through the drive through speaker? Yep... I've heard it all, I've seen it all, and I've experienced it all... and not just from the crew member's stand point.
Now that I'm a crew trainer at Wendy's I am required to dress like a manager, and thus people "expect" me to be a manager just because I dress like one. News flash, I don't have the authority that managers have. I'm sorry something happened, but you have no right to curse out my fellow employees nor myself. We can talk this out in a timely manner like the adults we are. And that's just it! Some people do act like responsible, respectable adults while others make us not want to serve them. So please, next time you go to any fast-food restaurant keep in mind these simple Do's and Don'ts.
DON'T repeat your entire order!
Unless we ask for your entire order we just want the one question we have answered. That means if I ask "that was one vanilla frosty, correct?" I don't want you to reply with "Three chocolate frosties, a junior cheeseburger, five value fries, and one vanilla frosty." That makes us super annoyed and not wanting to serve you. It also annoys anyone else who heard the order.
DO be polite when ordering.
The saying goes treat others the way you want to be treated. We will treat you with the utmost respect and sometimes politeness comes a long way for us employees. The customer might even get better service as well.
DON'T curse out fellow managers and employees!
We do apologize for the screw-up and inconvenience, and we will do whatever we can to make your order the way you want and deserve. We can do this in an adult manner without the screaming and the yelling.
DO go inside when making a large order.
Inside is just as fast as drive thru, except drive thru has a timer and we monitor how long we've had a car from the time they pull up to the speaker to the time they leave the window. Sure, we can do multi-orders and we will take large orders, but it would be just as quick for inside, when they're open, to complete your order and also help out the drive thru when there's a line of cars and nobody inside.
DON'T yell out "Hey Baby" or call us inappropriate names.
I've just learned to ignore it, but there are others that feel very uncomfortable when you do. So please, be respectful. Yes ma'am, no sir, thank you.
DO feel free to ask for assistance.
We are here to help. So if you have a question we will try to answer best we can. If you can't find something or believe there is a problem let us know and we will fix that right away.
DON'T argue about seeing an ID.
Most fast-food restaurants don't have a chip reader and the cashiers have to swipe the cards, however, most places check cards that are not signed or say, "Please ask for ID" or "See ID" on the back. This is simply for fraud protection, and I'm sorry if you don't have the proper ID. We are only trying to protect you, so please don't scream at us for doing our job.
DO get to know the employees.
We do remember you! We get regulars all the time and it's so nice when you can stir up a conversation with one of them. It makes us happy to help you and serve you when treated with respect, and it also cracks us up when some tell us jokes or little children who choose their toys at times.
So next time you go into a fast food restaurant think...how would I like to be treated today?
